Press Photo/Katy BatdorffSteve Flaig talks with his biological mother, Christine Tallady, before leaving work Saturday evening. Tallady and Flaig work at the Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse on Plainfield Avenue NE. National and international media covered the story of their unlikely reunion.

PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP -- For Steve Flaig, finding his birth mother working in the same store where he works was a big event. He had no idea how much it would touch the hearts of others.

After the story of his reunion with his birth mother, Christine Tallady, first ran on mlive.com on Tuesday and in The Press the following day, they were besieged with requests for interviews.

NBC flew them to New York on Wednesday night to appear on the Today Show on Thursday morning. Friday morning, they appeared on Fox and Friends on the Fox News channel and on CNN that afternoon.

Their story was picked up by newspapers and other news organizations. It was the lead story on Yahoo Thursday morning.

"Originally, I was like, we'll do some local media, and that will be it," said Flaig, 22, reached last week on his cell phone as he and Tallady took a walking tour of midtown Manhattan. "It's been exhausting. We haven't been able to get much sleep. It's absolutely incredible, more bizarre than anything I've ever seen."

After their CNN appearance, the two flew back to Grand Rapids. They expected their lives would return to normal by Saturday, when both returned to work at the Lowe's store on Plainfield Avenue NE.

Or maybe not. An executive for a movie production company contacted them Thursday, proposing to film a made-for-TV movie about them.

"We're hoping to bring this to a lot of the TV networks," said Colt Straub, development director for The Idea Factory, an independent production company with offices in New York and Los Angeles.

The company has made several made-for-TV movies and reality shows.

"This one right here, we think we can sell to a lot of places," Straub said.

Getting to know each other
The response at Lowe's on Saturday shows the story resonates with people. Tallady, who is head cashier at Lowe's, said customers stopped her in the aisles, just to give her a hug.

"It's been crazy, it's been amazing. People are telling me their stories about adoption," Tallady said. "If I can make someone smile just by looking at me, well, 'Merry Christmas,'" Tallady said.

Her son was extra busy with deliveries Saturday because of absences at another store.

Time off from work was a blessing. In New York, "we just had time. I got to know his likes and dislikes. I got to spend time with (his girlfriend) Ashleigh, with them together. It's been beautiful," Tallady said.

'An instantaneous connection'
She was surprised to find him clean-shaven. He had worn long, heavy sideburns until his morning show television appearance.

"I'd never been on TV before. I wanted people to see the resemblance between Chris and I a little better," he said.

Flaig never expected this much attention when he began searching for his birth mother four years ago. When he turned 18, he asked DA Blodgett for Children, the agency that arranged his adoption, to provide his background information.

When her son was born in October 1985, Tallady asked that the adoption file be kept open in case he wanted to contact her someday.

At first, Flaig misspelled her name as "Talladay" and came up empty when he tried searching for her address on the Internet. In October, he realized his mistake, typed her name into a search engine and found her living near the Lowe's store where he has worked the past two years.

He was shocked when he learned she was a cashier in the same store, but he didn't know how to approach her. The two were reunited Dec. 14 after a Blodgett social worker called Tallady and told her about Flaig.

Flaig said he has since noted a lot of similarities with Tallady and "an instantaneous connection."

"The best part is I got to know Chris better. And my folks are very supportive."